Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Brace yourself!

What kind of a world do we live in? Oh, am not getting philosophical or frustrated ok! Am just asking.

This Sunday I had my usual workshop at Psbb KKNgr. And we have this empowerment circle talk to begin with. This is the 5th year. I believe the only way to get people and kids inhibited or introverted out of their shells and make them natural is to get them to talk. So we do this what happened during the last week in our lives or anything one came across that was interesting or different. And we ended up discussing the braces-culture. Three of the girls were on braces. It was pretty interesting to relate to their experience. So very different, yet braces on the upper teeth row. Also, very empathetically I can say, macabre for me to hear.

How stupid of parents to want to put their kids into braces in order to prevent kids from having bad teeth row, bad lip pout, etc etc... all the while the best preventive care we can take goes back to ages and stops with my generation of growing children. Just avoid things traumatic for teeth. This shows how uncaring parents are about kids these days. You can't spare time for them... but you fucked around to get them out to grow into kids... and you still fuck around uncaring of what they eat, what they do, where they hang around, who they hang out with, how they live or learn or study or grow. And suddenly some other parents had their kids into braces and that sounded the right thing, so these parents put them in too! Humbug.

I am going to do a whole lot of writing on this braces thing. And how the doctors make a killing out of this. And how the packaging market make a killing out of this commercial golden goose. Flourescent gums, Neon braces, swindling the people in the sacred name of preserving dentals! Shoot, fish, blimey!

Comment please, on what you feel about the braces culture.

4 comments:

Kanishkaa said...

I'm the king of the braces..wore them twice in my short life so far.Trust me my teeth have seen it all,done it all(almost!).U should've seen me b4 i had them on (not that i'm the prettiest guy around now ;-).Bunny rabbit,bugs bunny,dracula..the nicknames flowed at my expense.
I have to take the opposite argument on the braces issue alone.Parents insist on braces only because they want their kids to look better and more presentable.No harm as long as they can afford it.I'm not sure how old these kids were in this group.During the tantrum years,when insecurity abt looks reaches its peak,braces is a sure way of correcting it.however im not for some of the other gizmos..plastic surgerys,liposuction,nail jobs, nose jobs blah blah..

Krishna Kumar. S said...

Out of adenoids and tonsils if kids end up breathing thru mouth and get into brace situation, i can understand. But during the time the kids start losing their milk teeth, if parents don't take care, then braces is the only way. BTW these kids are in 6th to 8th std. age group. And I wonder why dentures haven't caught on in terms of fashion like braces! I mean, the old need more refreshing looks than the young! Pass this blog on Nish. I need a variety of comments from ppl about this topic. I am doing a bit of factfinding and research.

Have started writing a novel. This may form a part of the input.

antickpix said...

Hi,

I'm 18 and a bit right now, and started wearing braces about six years back. Being charitable to myself, my teeth weren't perfect. Two growing out from the same root and almost obtuse angles were a couple of my problems. Even my English teacher in class 6 (Vidya Mandir, Mylapore, haven for crazy teachers) used to make fun of me, not to mention my peer group, but that's a different matter. Looking at my teeth in the mirror, something had to be done. The first thing noticeable about me were my teeth. So, all signs pointed to the orthodontist, and in my case, braces were a great help.

Braces helped me, but they were ‘installed’ only after the problem was observed and assessed for a couple of years. Prevention better than cure? I don’t know, but it could be a case of jumping the gun, opting for braces when there is no apparent (and usually visual) problem.

Maybe it’s just a way to keep the economy churning.

varun.

PS: Nice blog.

Krishna Kumar. S said...

Thanks Varun :-D for visiting. Yeah, it must be torrid to get into braces. Thankfully am 40 and come from a generation that won't know braces during their teens. And yes... I am sold to the idea that Braces are for keeping the economy churning.

But there again, there's nothing like seeing an interesting proposition giggling in braces in those american movies. Those folks up there at Hollywood Hills have a way of making everything seem glamorous, ain't it?